Researchers analyzed medical information on 9,439 mother-child pairs who received health care through Kaiser Permanente in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. All women gave birth between 1995 and 2000, and none had pre-existing diabetes. The women were screened for hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, and gestational diabetes; their children were measured for weight between the ages of 5 and 7 — what researchers call the adiposity-rebound period, during which excessive weight gain usually predicts adult obesity. Regardless of factors like race or ethnicity, birth weight and maternal weight gain or age, researchers found that the risk of a child becoming overweight rose in step with the mother's blood-sugar level during pregnancy.

Women whose blood-sugar tests indicated gestational diabetes were 89% more likely than other women to have overweight children, and 82% more likely to have obese kids. Women whose blood-sugar readings were at the upper end of normal (122 mg/dl to 140 mg/dl) were still 22% more likely to have overweight children than women at the low end of normal (with blood-sugar levels between 43 mg/dl and 94 mg/dl), and 28% more likely to bear children who become obese. "Even in what's considered normal, in the highest quartile there was an elevation in risk," says Dr. Teresa Hillier, a CHR endocrinologist and senior investigator and lead author of the study. "You could argue, should we consider lowering the criteria? One forty [mg/dl] is the typical cutoff [for diabetes]. Some ppl have argued that it should be 130."

I just recently read a journal article that stated "No strong evidence that large-for-date newborn infants grow up to be fat children and adults. Most seem to return to a genetically programmed growth curve well within the population standards. Diabetes mellitus clearly has a genetic component; thus, it is not surprising that some infants of diabetic mothers" (gestational and otherwise) "will be more likely to develop diabetes, later in life.
From Pediatric Clinics of North America "Infants of Diabetic Mothers"
Moms that have diabetes, whether gestational or otherwise tend to have larger babies than average due to higher glucose levels in utero.
This article seems to contradict the other one.

I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my (now 8 year old) son. Had I not been induced, I would have gone overdue and he was already 8 pounds. So they induced me. 8 pounds, 7 ounces. Not bad.

However, they kept us longer in the hospital, just to make sure my sugar would go back to normal (which it did, now HYPOglycemic ) and to make sure the diabetes didn't affect my son in any way.

He's been a normal weight most of his life. Not fat, not too thin. But starting at about age 7, he became a little 'thick around the middle' and when I see him without a shirt, his waist is bigger than it should be. He's 54" tall and the last time I weighed him, July 25th, he was 82 pounds. He just suddenly started growing "out" instead of "up". And it never even dawned on me that me having gestational diabetes while pregnant would have any affect on his weight in the future.

He runs and he jumps and he plays and he rides his bike and he loves to swim, so it's not like he's a completely sedentary child. He loves his snack foods, but I limit those and he can only have one sweet treat per day. He likes ice cream and I allow him a SMALL amount. I've switched a lot of his foods to light or reduced fat, including things like hot dogs and the like, and I even buy light ice cream. He likes snack foods (like chips and cheetos) and I always buy the baked kind. Just anywhere I could cut fat and calories from his diet, I have done it. And he's still just a tad chunky.

He's not a big eater. Most of the time he doesn't finish a meal and I always tell him that's okay. If you're full, stop. You don't HAVE to sit there and eat the whole thing. So he's able to push away what he doesn't want when he's full. Unlike me, who used to eat everything on my plate whether I was full or not because I was brought up in one of those "eat everything on your plate before getting up from the table" families. That was one of my hardest habits to break when changing my lifestyle to lose my weight. And I didn't want my son getting stuck in that mindset. So I've always taught him that it's okay to push it away.

I'm going to have to look further into this because it seems there are contradictory findings on this particular subject.

Well I'm not sure it is contradictory because the study I linked to says regardless of birth weight and Anne's reply below mine says that there is no strong evidence that large for date newborns grow up to be fat. I think those 2 statements actually support eachother. But if high sugar levels usually mean bigger babies, then I'm not sure how the first study would address that if they think birth weight is not a factor.

There also may be other factors as well that played in the study. Also, having gestational diabetes doesn't guarantee that your child will be overweight or obese just as not having gestational diabetes doesn't guarantee that your child will grow up to be a normal weight.

There also may be other factors as well that played in the study. Also, having gestational diabetes doesn't guarantee that your child will be overweight or obese just as not having gestational diabetes doesn't guarantee that your child will grow up to be a normal weight.

Well then they may as well say, "Look, your child may end up fat, or he may not, regardless of anything else."

That's like them saying your kid may break a bone during his childhood and then again he may not.

It seems that for every study with new findings, there is another one to dispute it. Some conclusions all come back to using common sense and taking proper care of yourself. I wonder sometimes who pays for all these"studies".

It seems that for every study with new findings, there is another one to dispute it. Some conclusions all come back to using common sense and taking proper care of yourself. I wonder sometimes who pays for all these"studies".

I had to weigh in on this one because there is a lot of confusion in the studies. The most recent one I read found a strong link between poorly controlled GD and obesity. (not sure if it was the same one or not.) If you had GD and were under proper care, this should not have been an issue. The study I read showed NO difference in controlled GD vs. no GD.

It is a concern for me because I was very borderline for GD, and they did not continue to monitor me for it and I was high blood sugar when dd was born and she was low blood sugar. My ob was incompetent in so many ways. dd had lower end of birth weight, but she was also 4 weeks early. She had high birth weight for 36 week gestation.

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Lost successfully, maintained successfully. Followed by a whole lot of setbacks and obstacles. Starting over with the knowledge gained before.

Well mine was definitely poorly controlled. I had a blood sugar monitor and took my sugar several times a day and recorded it to show the doctor when I'd go in for my check-ups. Most of the time my sugar was near or over 200. Now, a normal reading for me is anywhere between 65-80. I know when my sugar has dropped too low because I get the shakes and I usually drink some juice. Again, I'm hypoglycemic. My blood sugar is consistently below 70.

The reason my GD was poorly controlled is because what they failed to tell me is high-glycemic foods also raise blood sugar. I know that now but I didn't know it then and they didn't tell me. So here I am loading up on pasta and potatoes and bread, assuming I was ok as long as I didn't eat anything with sugar in it. And I could never figure out why my blood sugar stayed so high most of the time.

It's no wonder I gained so much weight during my pregnancy. Because, during my pregnancy, is when I gained most of it. But my sugar was high through most of my pregnancy and I'm hoping that doesn't have a negative effect on my son.

LLV, Did your Dr. sent you to a dietician when he diagnosed gestational diabetes? How did you know what diet to follow? If your blood sugars were that high, did he discuss your diet or putting you on insulin during your pregnancy? Any dietician would have instructed you on carb counting, which is what diabetics do for dietary control.